DRD volunteer inspectors: what they can and cannot do

It is a unit of volunteer citizens, attached to the Department of Recreation and Sports, created to observe, orient and document conditions at sports facilities and recreational activities. It is not a sports police: the law expressly bars it from punitive and quasi-police functions.

Volunteer citizens who meet the profile and certification requirements the Department sets. Recruitment shall be directed preferentially at professionals or students in their final year of studies in physical education, athletic therapy, health and related disciplines, to ensure supervision is by people expert in recreation and sports areas.

• Submitting a criminal record certificate. The law calls it an indispensable requirement for certification.Verified against the official source
• Submitting a negative certification under Act 300-1999, the Act on Verification of Credentials and Criminal History of Providers to Children, People with Disabilities and Health Professionals. The law provides that the Department shall establish an expedited administrative mechanism to meet this requirement.Verified against the official source
• Meeting the profile and certification requirements the Department sets, and complying with Act 57-2023, the Act for the Prevention of Abuse, Preservation of Family Unity and for the Safety, Wellbeing and Protection of Minors, per the Article 3(y) definition.Verified against the official source
• Being certified by the Department. Without that certification, the law recognizes no one as a member of the Corps.Verified against the official source

• The two the law names: the criminal record certificate and the Act 300-1999 negative certification. The law publishes no application form or additional list; the profile and certification criteria are left to the regulation the Secretary must promulgate.

1. 1

   Step 1: First things first: they are not police

   This goes first because it is what prevents a problem on a court. The law orders the Secretary to set an intervention protocol defining what they may and may not do, to avoid jurisdictional conflicts with the Police of Puerto Rico, the Department of the Family and other relevant entities, and adds that the protocol “must emphasise that volunteers shall not exercise punitive or quasi-police functions, but rather observation, orientation and documentation”. A volunteer inspector does not arrest, does not fine and does not suspend anyone.

2. 2

   Step 2: What they do do

   The Article 3(y) definition and Article 19-A agree: functions of observation, orientation and documentation of conditions relating to sports facilities and recreational activities. Article 19-A adds that the Corps shall support oversight and compliance with the provisions of Act 8-2004, of Act 28-2019 and other rules applicable to the Department or issued by the Agency, aimed at promoting sport and recreational activities in a healthy and safe environment protecting the integrity of participating children and young people.

3. 3

   Step 3: How to recognise one

   The law directs the regulation to define the uniform and official identification inspectors will carry, and specifies its content: name, photo and validity date. If someone presents themselves as a DRD volunteer inspector, that is what the law says they must carry.

4. 4

   Step 4: Who can be one, and what they must submit

   Recruitment shall be directed preferentially at professionals or students in their final year of studies in physical education, athletic therapy, health and related disciplines, ensuring supervision is by people expert in recreation and sports areas. And as an indispensable requirement for certification, every applicant must submit a criminal record certificate and a negative certification under Act 300-1999. The law adds that the Department shall establish an expedited administrative mechanism to meet that requirement.

5. 5

   Step 5: What protects the volunteer

   If you are thinking of serving, this is what the law recognizes for you. The Secretary, coordinating with the Office of Management and Budget, must arrange the resources needed to establish a public liability policy specifically protecting volunteers during the performance of their duties, consistent with the limited civil immunity volunteers enjoy under Act 261-2004, and to cover the administrative costs of their certification, training, uniforms and identification. In addition, the collaboration agreement the regulation requires must stipulate the volunteer’s rights and duties, the unpaid nature of the relationship and a confidentiality clause protecting names, personal information and details of findings.

6. 6

   Step 6: The code of conduct and the training

   The regulation must include a mandatory Code of Conduct promoting impartiality, respect and punctuality. And the Secretary shall establish a continuing training programme for inspectors on the regulations and protocols governing sport in Puerto Rico. The regulation must also promote adequate mechanisms to orient and educate the public about the Corps’s function.

7. 7

   Step 7: When it actually starts: 1 July 2027

   We prefer to tell you before you call to ask. Section 4 provides that the Volunteer Inspector Corps shall begin operating on 1 July 2027 with a pilot plan lasting three (3) years, and that afterwards the Act shall be implemented in phases until general implementation is complete. Section 3 confirms it from the money side: DRD must make the adjustments to cover the operating cost permanently from the fiscal year 2027-2028 budget. The regulation, by contrast, does run earlier: ninety (90) days from the Act’s approval.

At the Department of Recreation and Sports, which certifies the Corps’s members and must promulgate the regulation with the profile, the criteria and the expedited administrative mechanism. The law also empowers the Secretary to formalize agreements with private entities and non-profit organizations for this Act’s objectives. The law publishes no address, phone, portal or form.

• Treating a volunteer inspector as a police authority: the law requires the protocol to emphasise they shall not exercise punitive or quasi-police functions.
• Believing the Corps is already operating: it begins operating on 1 July 2027 with a three-year pilot plan.
• Thinking wanting to volunteer is enough: Department certification, a criminal record certificate and an Act 300-1999 negative certification are required.
• Assuming it is a paid post: the collaboration agreement must expressly state the unpaid nature of the relationship.
• Accepting someone without official identification: the regulation must define an ID with name, photo and validity date.
• Expecting an inspector to resolve an emergency: their functions are observation, orientation and documentation.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Recreación y Deportes (DRD)

  DRD

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov